Various proposals have been made for securing together the outer race of a constant velocity joint and part of a motor vehicle wheel bearing. Attention is drawn to U.S. Pat. No. 6,022,275 issued Feb. 8, 2000 to SKF Industrie S.p.A. and U.S. Pat. No. 6,193,419 issued Feb. 27, 2001 to GKN Automotive AG. Reference is also made to the publication WO99/13232 in the name of GKN Automotive AG. In this latter publication a spring ring is used which has arms at its ends which extend outwardly and these arms are embraced by a holding element which can hold the ring in one of the grooves while the parts are assembled and then removed to allow the ring to engage both grooves. Access to the holding element may be through the hole in the vehicle suspension knuckle which is normally used for an ABS sensor.
The area around the exterior of the wheel bearing is very confined and there is little space to manipulate the holding element. Thus, there exists a need for an improved securing mechanism.